In a continuing effort to improve the quality of shipping fruits, I, the inventor, typically hybridize a large number of peach, nectarine, plum, apricot, and cherry seedlings each year. I also grow a lesser number of open pollinated seeds of each of these fruits, usually to capture recessive traits. The present invention relates to a new and distinct variety of nectarine tree, which has been denominated varietally as ‘Spring Pearl’. During the spring and summer of 1997 I gathered fruit from several different unnamed seedlings in my experimental orchard located near Le Grand, Calif., in Merced County (San Joaquin Valley). One particular group of nectarines were white in flesh color, clingstone in type, and sub-acidic in flavor, and were thus designated as “WNC (OP)”. The seeds from these fruits were removed, cracked, stratified, germinated and grown as seedlings on their own root in my greenhouse, and upon reaching dormancy transplanted to a cultivated area in the experimental orchard described above. During the fruit evaluation season of 2000 I selected several nectarines that exhibited desirable qualities, as the present variety was selected as a single tree from the group of “WNC (OP)” described above. Subsequent to origination of the present variety of nectarine tree, I asexually reproduced it by budding and grafting in the experimental orchard described above, and such reproduction of plant and fruit characteristics were true to the original plant in all respects. The reproduction of the variety included the use of ‘Nemaguard’ rootstock (unpatented) upon which the present variety was compatible and true to type.
The present variety is most similar to ‘June Pearl’ (U.S. Plant Pat. No. 9,360) nectarine, by producing nectarines that are very firm in texture, sub-acidic and sweet in flavor, clingstone in type, and nearly full red in skin color, but is distinguished therefrom by producing fruit that is more globose in shape, has virtually no protruding tips at the apex, is larger in size, and matures about five days later.